Sanskrit Manuscripts : Vipākasūtravṛtti

Abhayadeva

Sanskrit Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>This is a manuscript of Abhayadeva 's Sanskrit commentary on the eleventh Aṅga of the Śvetāmbara canon, the <i>Vipākasūtra</i>, a narrative work about the consequences of bad behaviours in the first part (<i>śrutaskandha)</i> called <i>Duḥkhavipāka</i> and those of good behaviours in the second part called <i>Sukhavipāka</i>. The first part, the longest, is divided into ten chapters which are distributed as follows here: chap. 1 ends on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(12);return false;'>f. 5v4</a>; 2 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(20);return false;'>f. 9v7</a>; 3 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(27);return false;'>f. 13r4</a>; 4 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(27);return false;'>f. 13r15</a>; 5 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(28);return false;'>f. 13v3</a>; 6 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(30);return false;'>f. 14v5</a>; 7 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(33);return false;'>f. 16r1</a>; 8 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(34);return false;'>f. 16v5</a>; 9 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(36);return false;'>f. 17v7</a>; 10 on <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(36);return false;'>f. 17v9</a>. The remaining part is occupied by the second part, which is much shorter as only the first story is told fully. The others are repetitions of the main pattern. Abhayadevasūri is one of the most famous Jain commentators. He lived in the 11th century and is known as <i>navāṅgīvṛttikāra</i> since he wrote a commentary on nine of the eleven Aṅgas of the Śvetāmbara canon. This manuscript has two folios numbered 1. The first one is from one hand, the second folio numbered as 1 is from another hand by which all the rest was copied. There is no gap in the text as the last sentence on the first f. 1v is repeated at the beginning on the second f. 1v. The copying date is 1650 of the Vikrama era. Either the place name or the name of the scribe are meant to have been written in the colophon before the word <i>laṣitaṃ</i> but they are written in what seems to be coded characters instead of ordinary Jaina Devanāgarī. Their meaning is yet to be deciphered. Then comes an additional colophon in one Gujarati sentence informing about the owner of the manuscript and giving the reference in his collection: "This is the manuscript of Pandit Vimalavijayagaṇi , the disciple of the preceptor Nandivijayagaṇi , bundle No. 40 (erased and changed into 28), manuscript 8". Although the monastic order of these monks is not explicitly mentioned, the names containing the element <i>vijaya</i> likely point to the Tapāgaccha.</p>